The UpTake: AppNexus eclipses $1B in value in latest round of venture backing, which could put off an IPO. It's at least the fifth New York City startup to breach the billion dollar barrier.

A nother large ad-tech company in New York that appears poised to go public has instead returned to the venture capital spigot -- and now claims to be the city's latest billion-dollar startup.

AppNexus Inc.announced this week that an unnamed "Boston-based public equity and asset management firm" has invested $60 million in a deal that presumes a $1.2 billion valuation.

That makes AppNexus at least the fifth member of New York's billion-dollar club, joining database provider MongoDB Inc., Vice Media, Gilt Groupe and Fab as startups known to have raised investor dollars at at least a 10-figure valuation. (Though Fab.com's place in that group is purely historic; the company has eliminated workers and pivoted several times since its last funding round.)

Seven-year-old AppNexus, which offers a cloud platform to buy and sell digital ads, said it will use the infusion to continue its global expansion in headcount and market presence. It now employs 600 people in 10 offices worldwide.

"“When we founded AppNexus, our aspiration wasn’t just to build the world’s best ad tech company – we wanted to prove that you can build a seminal, global technology company right here in New York,” said CEO and cofounder Brian O’Kelley in a statement. “As a company purely focused on creating great tech, our aim is to continue to revolutionize the advertising industry, and we’re just getting started.”

At first glance, this deal appears designed to delay an IPO for AppNexus, which has always intended to go public but now may be concerned by the ad-tech sector's poor track record in public markets. Comparables YuMe, Tremor Video, RocketFuel, Millenianial Media, Rubicon and TubeMogul have all underperformed on the markets.

Ben Fischer covers technology, digital startups and venture capital in New York City.

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